September is my month to lead Children’s Church! Each month the stories match a Fruit of the Spirit. I’m teaching on PEACE! So my lessons are Shadrach/Meshach/Abednego, Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Peter walking on water, and the Holy Spirit. While I was in the States healing from back surgery – I decided to work on my lessons. So I printed out pictures, skits, activities, crafts, & games to bring back with me.
We started the day off – kicking it old-school with Audio Adrenaline’s song – Big House! For those of you who don’t know – I used to be in a singing group called Tuff Luv! (Yes – I spelt it right). My brother played base guitar, I played keyboard, we had singers, and we had dancers. We did EVERYTHING – rap, country, pop, rock & roll – all in the name of Jesus! 🙂 Big House was a crowd favorite back then!
We even had head-shots made! Under the leadership of my sister – we led many children’s sessions at the North American Christian Conventions & at the National Missionary Conventions. We also traveled all across the country. I don’t think I have anymore autographed photos though…..sorry if you didn’t get one! 🙂
So I drew from those incredible Tuff Luv days…. and taught the kids the chorus of Big House along with the motions. They caught on really quick and they LOVED it! Then we did Jesus aerobics – which is basically exercising to Christian Music!
Since today’s lesson was about not bowing down to an Idol – we played Hot Potato using an Elf toy. They passed it around but if the music stopped and they had the idol in their hands – they lost.
Then it was time for the lesson which all of the children acted out! Then we followed up with lots of questions. If they got the question right they got a piece of candy! We also worked on our memory verse.
After story, skits, and questions – we passed out coloring sheets, word-searches, & mazes – all about the lesson.
The next thing we did was the popcorn game. The kids stood in two lines facing each. They took turns trying to throw popcorn in the mouth of their partner. It was hard to do when they were far apart. Each round one line would take a step forward until eventually they were face to face. It was a lot easier to get the popcorn into their partner’s mouth when they were face to face.
God is always there – He doesn’t move. If we don’t feel His presence maybe it’s because we are too far away. I challenged the children to walk toward Christ in the same way we played the game. Our life will be easier when we are standing face to face – side by side – with Christ.
After the game we showed the Veggie Tale Movie about Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego! We started church at 9:15 and ended at 11:30! I’m SO worn out….I think the Jesus Aerobics got me! I haven’t been feeling too well the last couple of days but I promised myself no matter how I felt – I would be the Face of Jesus today!
I loved seeing how engaged the children were. Though the ages span from 2 years old to 11 years old – – we managed to hold their attention and I know they each got something out of the teaching today.
We are also starting a rewards system. They will get a point for each Sunday they come & for each verse that they memorize! We will be having a party at the end of October and those who show up and participate each week at church will get to come! The kids seemed really excited about that.
